ST. JOHN, Rowland (1588-1645), of Bletsoe, Beds. and Woodford, Northants.

St. John was a younger son of a large, wealthy, and influential family.19 PROB 11/132, ff. 348v-9v. Returned for Higham Ferrers, eight miles from Bletsoe, in 1614, he left no trace on the records of the Addled Parliament. In 1617 he accompanied the embassy of Sir John Digby* to Spain, but probably returned to England on his father’s death the following year. Shortly thereafter he married a wealthy widow who brought him £1,500 in cash and leases worth £600 p.a.20 Chamberlain Letters, ii. 213. This enabled St. John to buy the manor of Woodford, about five miles south-west of Northampton, in 1622, which became his principal residence.21 VCH Northants. iii. 256, 261. At the funeral of James I he carried a standard as substitute for Walter Montagu.22 Lansd. 885, f. 117v; J. Nichols, Progs. of Jas. I, iv. 1042. He was probably returned to the first Caroline Parliament for Tiverton on the recommendation of Sir Francis Russell*, lord lieutenant of Devon, with whom he was associated in the Fenland drainage enterprise.23 PROB 11/212, f. 225v-6v. On 23 June 1625 he was ordered to attend a conference on the petition for a fast, and on the following day named to the committee to consider the heads of the petition on religion. He was appointed to committees for bills to facilitate subscription (27 June) and to oblige public accountants to swear to the truth of their accounts (6 August).24 Procs. 1625, pp. 228, 241, 253, 411.

St. John does not seem to have stood again, though he remained active in local affairs. As a j.p. he was unenthusiastic about enforcing the Benevolence of 1626, and returned a vague account of its reception in the eastern division of Northamptonshire ‘lest by descending too far into particulars something should be fastened upon which may produce an unexpected prejudice’. It is therefore unsurprising that his name was omitted from the Forced Loan commission the following year.25 Beds. RO, St. John ms 1296; R. Cust, Forced Loan, 9, 98. Along with his fellow magistrates he complained at Northamptonshire’s Ship Money assessment in 1638.26 CSP Dom. 1638-9, p. 464; 1639, pp. 89, 184. He presented the Northamptonshire petition to the Long Parliament of 14 Feb. 1642, and thereafter was a moderate parliamentarian, serving on the Northamptonshire committee of the Eastern Association.27 HMC Buccleuch, i. 290; Luke Letter Bks. ed. H.B. Tibbutt (Beds. Rec. Soc. xlii), 368, 375, 378, 447, 463, 465, 527, 534, 535, 616. He died on 5 Aug. 1645 and was buried at Woodford.28 Bridges, ii. 268. In his will, dated 9 Oct. 1644, he left to his widow his share in the Bedford Level.29 PROB 11/212, f. 225v-6v. His grandson Sir Andrew St. John sat for Northamptonshire from 1690 to 1698.